


Summer's End, a Letter, and Three Months

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: Harvest Moon, 牧場物語つながる新天地 | Story of Seasons
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bisexuality, Emotions, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Letters, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: One summer, the summer after the new farmer Pete arrives, Kai arrives, just as always. And just as always, he leaves at the end… But this time, he leaves behind a letter, and a promise to Rick that he will have three months to consider his response to what is written within.
Relationships: Gray/Pete | Jack (Harvest Moon), Kai/Rick (Harvest Moon), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Pete | Jack & Rick, Popuri & Rick
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Summer's End, a Letter, and Three Months

Rick stares down at the envelope that has been adamantly pressed into his hand by a dark-skinned one, his frown growing the longer he stares at it, the longer the silence drags on.

Finally, he decides to break it, since the other male seems so keen on sitting there in silence. "So, what, am I supposed to give this to someone?" His annoyance and distaste for the other bathes his words, coming through quite clearly enough.

"Nah," is the easy, calm response he receives. It irks Rick further.

"Then why are you giving it to me?"

A bright laugh meets his ears before he hears more words, "Well, it's a letter, right? Normally, you give letters to people 'cause you want them to read them, right?"

Rick closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. He counts to ten in his head, then finally responds with, "You also usually send them through the mail, instead of giving them face-to-face."

"True enough," the other says lightly. "But if I'd sent it through the mail, it would've given you less time to respond."

Rick frowns. "Less time?"

"I'm giving you three months. When I come back next summer, you give me your response. Not a day later than the first day of summer though, okay? It's already gonna be hell to wait _three months_."

Rick opens his eyes and lifts his gaze from the letter, finally, meeting Kai's dark eyes. He's still very, very confused. "If this is a letter asking for my sister's hand in marriage, I'll be more than happy to decline right n-"

"Ha! Rick, you couldn't be more wrong about that." Kai flashes him one of those horrifically familiar, lady-killer smiles. "Just read it after I leave, yeah?"

Rick lets out an annoyed sigh, but decides that, if it's not asking for his sister's hand, it wouldn't hurt to read the letter. "Fine, I will." He raises one unimpressed brow. "Are you going to leave now, though? The chill's already setting in..." It's as much of a taunt as it is an indication and admittance to how impatient he is to read this letter.

Kai seems to take his meaning both ways, and laughs brightly. "Sure am! Just gotta say bye to a few more people, then I'll head off. And that new farmer Pete promised me a pineapple before I leave..." He winks. "Promise you won't read the letter until I'm properly gone?"

"Yeah, yeah. I promise."

* * *

As soon as he sees Kai's boat sail off into the distance, he heads back home, upstairs and, with no preamble, tears open the envelope, sliding the letter out into his hand. He unfolds it, and immediately his eyes catch on a certain sentence towards the bottom.

His heart leaps into his throat, but he forces his eyes back up to the top, hoping for more context.

_Dear Rick,_

_First off, let me just say that you thinking I like Popuri is the funniest thing to me in the world. She's a lovely girl, and a wonderful friend, but I don't think of her as anything more than that. If she sees me as more, I'm afraid that's on her. I'm sincerely sorry for breaking her heart, if you'd like an apology, but I didn't do so on purpose._

_Right. Now that that's cleared up, let's move on to what I think of you._

_I certainly don't hate you. Definitely not like you seem to hate, or at least dislike, me. But then, you seem to feel that way about me just because you think I like Popuri. But like I said, I don't._

_I like you._

_I'm tired of hiding this, and I'm tired of not knowing how you feel in return, beyond your weird protective big brother instincts. So you have three months to decide how you feel about me in return, now that you know you were oh-so-wrong about me and Popuri._

_\- Kai_

...

......

Oh.

Well, he has more context.

But it doesn't really help with. Anything.

"I should have read it before he left..."

...Not that it would have helped.

After all, he doesn't really know how he's going to respond yet.

... _Shit_.

* * *

The next day brings with it the chill of Autumn, and a full-force reminder of his three month deadline to figure out his feelings for a certain beach-bum.

He stashes the letter within his pillowcase, fearful of his dear sister's meddling if she should find it.

...That, or her crying. One of the two.

With the letter hidden from prying eyes, he sets out to the coop, planning to act as normal as he possibly can for the time being.

While he finishes up feeding the chickens, he hears a knock from the door of the coop. He turns, and there stands the new farmer, Pete, an easygoing smile on his lips that reminds him far, far too much of Kai at the moment for his peace of mind.

"O-oh... Hey, Pete," Rick says, turning his eyes back to the chickens.

"Rick," Pete says easily. "I came for that lesson you mentioned."

Rick blinks, his mind taking a moment to process the words. "...Lesson?"

"About how to tell chickens apart," Pete explains. "I'm thinking of getting a couple, but I need to know how to tell them apart if I wanna take proper care of them, right?"

This is good. Rick needs the distraction from Kai's letter like he needs the sun to rise tomorrow. "Right!" he says, maybe a little louder than he should. "Yes, come on! Let's get to work then! If you have any questions - any whatsoever, no matter how inane - make sure you ask! And I'll answer them very, VERY in-depth!"

"How... Accommodating of you." Rick can hear the amusement in Pete's tone, but it's glazed over with concern, and questioning.

Rick pushes past it, saying, "I just want to help you out! We're neighbors after all, right?"

Pete chuckles lightly. "I suppose... Well, thank you. I hope I don't keep you too long."

"It'll be fine. Most of my only job is to just feed the chickens, and I'm done with that for the day. So come here and..."

The first day of Autumn passes with him and Pete in the coop, with him insistently trying to urge Pete to understand the differences between the chickens. The letter gets pushed to the back of his mind until he falls into bed that night, and hears the crinkle of paper under his head.

* * *

All around him, the leaves are falling to the ground in shades of brown and red and orange, all the colors of Autumn. All around him, people talk animatedly about the Harvest Festival and how the year is almost drawing to a close, but it's not closing soon enough for Rick.

He wants next year's Summer to arrive. He wants it to arrive so he can turn down Kai and get rid of this horrible nagging thought of that letter.

_Is that really what you want?_

The thought comes and makes him physically stop walking, as if he's hit an actual, invisible wall. His eyes are wide behind his glasses as a leaf falls to his feet.

Is it what he wants?

After all, at first, he had thought that he wouldn't know how to respond. Wouldn't such uncertainty include whether or not he would turn down Kai?

_No. No, that's not it,_ he tells himself. _I just wasn't sure how to do it without being... Unkind._

The door to the Forge opens ahead of him, and his head shoots up as if he'd forgotten for a moment that other people lived in this town. He watches as Pete leaves... And, shortly after him, Gray.

...Gray is holding a small red flower.

* * *

By the time the lake on the mountain has frozen over, by the time he and Popuri are threatening to tie their mother to the bed to keep her from going outside in the snow, word has already spread of Pete and Gray's budding relationship.

They're a cute couple, Rick thinks. He's happy for them. And Gray seems to smile more, now that he has Pete.

Popuri thinks so, too.

"You should ask Karen out, and then you can all go on a double-date!" she declares to Rick, in the midst of gushing over how 'adorable' they are.

Rick blinks owlishly at her. The thought of asking Karen out is honestly entirely foreign of a notion. Why would she say her name instead of-?

He cuts that thought off.

"I don't like Karen," he says as patiently as he can. Popuri gives him a raised eyebrow that he pretends to not notice.

* * *

Valentine's Day is rather annoying this year. Especially when he has to smile through taking chocolate from Karen, with Popuri watching his every reaction with those eagle-eyes of hers.

* * *

People around him are dressed in their thickest, warmest clothing, prepared for not just the current chill but for the cold that will last throughout the night, until the midnight hour when they will greet the new year.

Despite wishing that it would hurry up and arrive back in Autumn, Rick suddenly wants time to slow down. He's even more uncertain of his feelings now than he had been back on that last day of Summer.

And as the midnight bell rings, he knows he has only one more month to decide where they lie.

* * *

The crinkle of paper under his head has been a constant every night since that first Autumn night. So when he lays down on the second day of Spring and doesn't hear it, he shoots up into a sitting position almost immediately after. He turns around and picks up his pillow, shaking it vigorously.

No letter comes out.

"Rick?"

Heart sinking, he turns back around, and sees Popuri there with an unreadable expression, holding the letter up between here index finger and thumb.

Within minutes, the two of them are downstairs, sitting at the table, with the letter in between them.

"Is this why you've been all quiet?" Popuri asks, the first to speak.

Rick doesn't answer.

"Rick... Do you like Kai back?"

That question makes him flinch. Still, he doesn't use his words, he doesn't respond.

"...Do you not like him back?"

He clenches his jaw.

He hates that he can't answer either question in a way that he feels confident in.

"You don't know, do you?"

Popuri's words, though not inherently accusatory, certainly sound like they are to Rick's ears. She sighs, not waiting for a response this time. "I guess that makes sense... You avoid him every time Summer rolls around. No way to tell if you like someone if you don't hang around them very much."

...That's true, he reasons to himself.

"So... What are you going to do?"

"...I don't know," he finally whispers. His already lowered head falls forward, resting on the table. "I don't know," he says again.

"He was pretty clear about not wanting to wait any longer than he had to for your answer," Popuri warns. "I don't think he'll accept 'I don't know' as an answer."

But it's all he has.

* * *

The temperature rises. People begin wearing lighter and lighter clothing.

And Summer arrives, bringing Kai along with it.

And waiting there on the beach for him with his answer - or rather, lack of one - is Rick.

* * *

"You don't know."

"I don't know."

The silence that falls afterward feels stifling.

Rick stares at the wooden floor instead of at Kai's face.

"Well. I guess that's better than what I thought you'd say?"

Frowning, Rick looks up. "What did you think I'd say?"

"Not so much say, as do," Kai says with a shrug, leaning on the white counter of his shack. "I thought you'd punch me, basically."

Rick snorts, because that's the only response he thinks he can muster. "I'm not that much of an ass."

Kai shrugs, his smile coming as easily as ever. "Maybe not. But I figure, if I thought the worst, maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised. And guess what, I am!"

Rick sighs, reaching up to rub at his temples. "I'm starting to lean towards the negative side of possible responses..."

"Aw, don't! Hey, how about I come hang this Sunday at your chicken place? You can show me the chickens. And I've always wondered how you can tell which eggs have the chicks in them, so maybe tell me that too?"

The words throw him for a loop, and he just stares at Kai for a moment in shocked silence. "Sunday... Chickens... Wait, you don't know how...?!"

"I'm not a farmer, dude."

"I..." Rick blinks dumbly, then lets out a sigh, relenting. "Fine. Sunday. See you then."

And he hates to admit it, but the way Kai beams at him makes his heart skip a beat.


End file.
